Palestine solidarity demonstration outside City Hall this evening in support of Veolia motion

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Monday April 12, 2010 09:53 by Fintan Lane - IPSC media officer 087 1258325

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) in Dublin will be staging a solidarity vigil this evening (Monday) as a motion on Veolia – the company that operates Dublin’s LUAS system – is voted on at Dublin City Council. The vigil will start at 6pm outside City Hall in Dame Street.

The IPSC is calling on human rights activists and supporters to come along for an hour to show their support for the motion, which if passed, will represent a European capital city saying 'No' to complicity with Israeli apartheid against the Palestinian people. Veolia, which runs Dublin's LUAS service, is active in Palestine/Israel in building the infrastructure for Israeli apartheid.

The motion to be voted on at Dublin City Council this evening calls on the City Manager not to renew or sign any new contracts with Veolia unless the company disengages from the work it is doing in Israel. For the full text of the motion, which is being proposed by Cllr Joan Collins, click on the following link: http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/ipsc/displayEv...D=834

According to Dr David Landy, chairperson of the IPSC: "We are asking all city councillors to support this important motion and thereby tangibly show their solidarity with the Palestinian people. The purpose of the motion is to insist that Dublin City Council exclude Veolia from all future business, while that company is involved in the apartheid tramline in the West Bank. This tramline encircles and suffocates the Palestinian people of East Jerusalem, while linking the illegal settlements to Israel."

He continued: "The Jerusalem Light Rail, which Veolia is involved with, is clearly designed to serve the interests of illegal Israeli settlements in the vicinity of Jerusalem and will result in substantial hardships for Palestinians in the area. The project involves the seizure of Palestinian land and the destruction of Palestinian houses. Veolia is directly complicit in Israel’s brutal occupation and is assisting its illegal settlement policy. Dublin should not be doing business with any company that helps the Israeli state in its oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people."

Addressing city councillors directly, Dr Landy said: “Dublin city councillors have an opportunity with this motion to take a principled stand for human rights and international law and to advance the quest for peace in the Middle East. We urge them to do so by voting in favour of this motion.”

“Dublin was at the forefront of the global movement against apartheid in South Africa and we can once again show our opposition to state-imposed apartheid by condemning Israel’s appalling behaviour towards the Palestinian people. It is important that our city takes a firm stand in support of human rights and in solidarity with the people of Palestine."